Emily Law (13)
Camen Li (16)
Elderly 'fuelling dentist demand'
On the 8th of December in BBC News
An increase in people keeping their
teeth well into old age is placing
unprecedented demand on
dentists, a report for the
government says.
The British Society of Gerodontology
report said dental health among older
Elderly people are retaining their teeth
people had improved since 1945.
Care homes
But they often needed restorative work
Another recommendation is that care
on their teeth, such as crowns and
home workers, community nurses and
bridges, requiring much greater care
pharmacists should have the relevant
and maintenance than dentures, it said.
expertise to advise older people on
The society wants more dentists trained
to look after elderly people's teeth.
In previous decades it was generally
accepted that old age for virtually
looking after their teeth.
Frail, older people living in care homes
are particularly vulnerable to poor
dental health.
everyone meant losing most, if not all,
The report said it was particularly
of their teeth.
important that care homes encouraged
However, now nearly half of the UK
population aged 85 and over are
healthy eating, regular oral hygiene and
the use of routine dental services.
expected to retain at least a few natural
Professor Jimmy Steele, a consultant at
teeth.
the University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
worked on the report.
He said: "This change in oral healthcare
demands is going to hit the NHS hard in
the next decade or so.
In Britain, there are more elderly need to have restorative work on their teeth as
nearly half of the UK population aged 85 and over are expected to retain at least a
few natural teeth. So the society wants more dentists be trained to look after elderly
people's teeth. Also, older people are advised to have care home workers, community
nurses and pharmacists for looking after their teeth as to encourage healthy eating,
regular oral hygiene and the use of routine dental services and this increases the
demand of oral healthcare.
1)
1) At the beginning, there were not
many people want dental service
as they had less knowledge of
keeping teeth well. The quantity
P
S
supply is equal to the quantity
demand of the dental service.
There is no tendency to change
Pe
the market price.
D
0
Q
Origin dental service
2) Later, the elderly had more
2)
P
S
Pe
Excess demand
0
Qs
D0
< Qd
Dentist service
D1
Q
knowledge of how to keep their
teeth well; they often needed to
have restorative work on their
teeth, requiring much greater care
and maintenance than dentures.
When the elderly have a greater
demand of health teeth, they will
go to the dentist. It leads to the
increase in demand of dental
service. The demand curve would
then shift to the right. When the
market price is less than the
equilibrium
price,
quantity
demanded is larger than quantity
supplied, there is an excess
demand of dentist service. The
quantity supply of professional
dentist is so little that there is not
enough dental services to satisfy
all the
elderly.
3)
P
S1
S0
Market
price
D0
D1
Q
Q0
Q1
New dental Services
0
3) In case of the excess demand
of dental service, the society
decides to train more professional
dentist than to decrease the
market price. When the supply of
professional dentist increase, the
supply curve shift to the right,
excess demand decrease. The
supply curve will then keeps on
shifting to the right until it touches
the equilibrium. Excess demand
will decrease to zero. The supply
and the market price will have no
tendency to change. Most of the
elderly will have dental service.
There is no change in equilibrium
price
but
an
increase
in
equilibrium quantity. The quantity
transacted of dental service will
increase.
4)
4) As oral healthcare is a product
which can improve the teeth,
despite going to the dentist to
have the dental service, the
elderly can choose to buy the oral
healthcare .Then it will have a
greater demand of oral healthcare,
P
Market
price
D0
so it will lead to increase in
demand for oral healthcare.
D1
Q
0
Oral healthcare